The party conference season is in full swing. But does anyone expect it to make much difference to our lives? Conferences leave most voters cold.

Those strutting their stuff in Brighton, Manchester and Birmingham are no nearer finding answers to the financial crisis than they were when it first began. The political tribe has failed to grasp that the fundamentals have changed.

The West is in crisis. The Big Government way of doing things is bust. Officialdom — not only in Greece and Spain but in Britain and the US — has been living far beyond its means.

Running a burgeoning welfare state on the back of a shrinking wealth-creating base does not work. Neither Conservatives, Lib-Dems nor Labour have yet to understand this new reality.

Instead they talk as if our economic problems are all some kind of blip. Economic growth, they imply, has taken a short break but will be back with us soon.

It will not. The West’s political economy is on the verge of dramatic change and it seems the last people to realise it are our politicians.

When Ed Balls or George Osborne argue about austerity, they are quibbling over how to salami slice a bit off public spending here and there. Neither has yet to confront the uncomfortable fact that for a generation or more — almost regardless of who held office — British public administration has had an insatiable appetite for more money. Our government has a long-term addiction to debt, having to borrow the equivalent of a tenth of economic output each year just to pay the bills.

“We can’t,” said David Cameron before the last election, “go on like this.” He is right. Eventually we will have to stop. What then?

Instead of talking about governments cuts, we are going to have to cut some government.

And at the precise moment that maths makes our Big Government model unsustainable, technology means we can do without it.

This year, officials will spend something like £30,000 per family buying public services for us. Imagine if we could purchase services bought in our name for ourselves.

Instead of having to take what you are given, imagine if you could manage your family’s own health account, with all your medical records stored on your iPad. Instead of your child’s education being shaped by catchment areas, imagine if you could tailor-make a personalised curriculum for your child, funded from an individual learning account.

The digital revolution will do to government planners in the West what the collapse of Communism did to Soviet planners a generation ago. It is not just that the political economy will change. The technocratic elite that preside over it will be displaced as we manage with less officialdom.

It is not what Vince or George or Ed say that is going to count. It is debt and the digital revolution that will determine our future.

Listen to politicians preening themselves at conferences. Then ask if you still think leaving it all to Big Government is really quite so popular?

The age of Big Government is coming to an end. Be happy. Because iDemocracy will put you — not Vince or George or Ed — in charge.

Douglas Carswell is Conservative MP for Clacton. His book, The End of Politics and the Birth of iDemocracy,